Staple-feeding mechanism



E. A. RUDASILL.

STAPLE FEEDING-MECHANISM. APPLICATIONHLED FEB. 1. 1919..

1,330,396. Patented Feb. 10,1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

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STAPLE FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION ElLED r5s.1.19|9. 0

1,330,396. Patented Feb. 10,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' IIVVENTOR A TTOR/VEYS tnsrrnn snares ELIE A. RUDASILL, 0F SHELBY, NORTH CAROLINA.

STAPLE-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentgfl Feb 10, 1920 Application filed February 1, 1919. Serial No. 27 1,5 16.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIE A. RUDASILL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Shelby, in the county of Cleveland and State of North Carolina, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Staple-Feeding Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates generally to staple setting machines, and more particularly to machines for setting staples in blind slats, my object being to provide means in connection therewith, operated by the actuating parts of the ma chine, for supplying staples to the usual staple feeding arms thereof.

More specifically, my invention contemplates the provision of staple feeding rails attached at their lower ends to the usual staple feeding arms and leading at their upper ends into opposite sides of a staple holdin hopper, together with a staple pick up device within the hopper capable of picking up staples and transferring the same to the said rails, and means connected to and actuated by the operating lever of the machine for imparting the desired moven'ient to the said pick up device.

My improvement and the advantages resulting therefrom will be apparent from the description thereof to follow, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of the specification, and wherein- Figure l is a perspective View of a machine for stapling blind slats to which my improvements are attached.

Fig. 2 is a rear detail view of one end of the pick up shaft with its ratchet and the adjacent end of the pitman.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1 with the cover of the hopper open, and

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the upper portion of the machine with my improvements, taken substantially on line 1-4: of Fig. 3.

Referring now to these figures, my improvements are adapted for operation in connection with a blind slat stapling machine, the frame of which is generally indicated at 10, with an upwardly extended forward portion 11 in which the plunger is mounted, this plunger working through a forward plunger guide 12, at the lower forward portion of the machine, to which the and automatically usual staple feeding arm 13 is attached, A guide 14 of a side plunger, and its staple feeding arm 15 are substantial duplicates of the guide 12 and arm 13 at the front of the machine, it being noted that both of the arms 13 and 15 are inclined downwardly toward the guide 14 so as to feed the staples into the plunger groove in operation, the staples being usually placed upon the arms 13 and 15 in considerable number by hand. In the operation of the machine both of the plungers are actuated from a single operating arm16, pivoted in the frame at 17" and connected at its forward end and at an intermediate point, respectively indicated -at 18 and. 19, to the forward and side plungers.

In accordance with my invention I mount a hopper 20 above the rear portion of the frame 10, rearwardly of its forwardly and upwardly extending portion 11, through which is journaled a transversely extending and horizontally disposed pick up shaft 21 at a substantially central point, said hopper having a hinged cover 22 and a rearwardly extending portion 23 into which staples are upper outer ends of the staple feeding arms 15 and 13, as clearly seenby reference to- Fig. 1, the upper ends of these rails termihating within the hopper 20 at points adj acent said' side walls, for a purpose to be now' described.

Mounted within the hopper upon the pick up shaft 21, is a pick up member in the form of a wheel, having spaced series of pick up fingers 29 and 30, each of which fingers tapers to an outer sharpened end 31 and is provided with an intermediate extension 32' projecting forwardly with respect to the direction of movement of the arms or fingers and having a pointed extremity curved in a lateral direction, the fingers of the series of arms 29 being bent toward one side of the hopper to aline with the upper end of the rail 27, and the fingers of the other series toward the opposite side of the hopper to aline with the upper inner end of the rail 26.

Pivotally connected at its lower end at 33 to the forward end of the operating lever 16, is a pitman 34: extending angularly upward in a rearward direction and having its upper end provided with an extended longitudinal slot 35 through which the outwardly projecting end of the shaft 21 ex tends, said pitman being provided upon its upper edge adjacent its rear upper end, with a lug projecting inwardly toward the hopper and having a somewhat similar lug 37 extending from its lower edge at a point below the lug 36 and in a direction relatively opposite thereto, that is away from the hopper 20.

Secured upon the shaft 21 upon relatively opposite sides of the upper portion of the pitman 3st are ratchet members in the form of star wheels 38 and 39, the teeth of the wheel 38 being engaged by lug 36 in downward movements of the pitman and the teeth of wheel 39 being engaged by the lug 37 in upward movements of the pitman 34:.

It is to be noted that the teeth of wheel 38 are staggered with respect to those of wheel 39 and that the pick up arms of the series 29 are likewise staggered with respect to those of the series 30 so that during down ward movement of the pitman 34, in which movement the teeth of wheel 38 are engaged by the lug 36, one of the pick up fingers of the series 30 will be alined with the upper inner end of the guide rail 26, whereby, its extension 32 being tapered and laterally bent, the staple engaged thereby will slide off on to the upper end of the rail 26 and downwardly upon this rail to the feed arm 15, a similar operation taking place when the pitman 34: is moved upwardly, except at this time, when wheel 39 is turned, one of the pick up fingers of the series 29 will aline with the upper end of the guide rail 27, transferring a staple engaged by the pick up fingers on to this guide rail downwardly which it slides to the feed arm 13.

In this way I am enabled to provide a simple inexpensive attachment for blind stapling machines of the nature described, whereby to obviate the disadvantage of having to feed the staples by hand upon the feed arm 13, and provide for the automatic feeding of the staples thereto from a hopper into which staples may be poured promiscuously through the door 24.

I claim 1. A combination with a stapling machine including a frame having forward and side staple feeding arms and an operating lever for the staple setting plungers, of a pair of curved downwardly inclined guide rails,

the lower ends of which are secured to the upper ends of the said staple feeding arms, a hopper mounted on the'frame and having side openings into which the upper ends of the said guide rails extend, adapted for the reception of a supply of staples, a shaft extended through the said hopper in a horizontal position and having an outwardly projecting end, a pick up wheelsecured on the shaft within the hopper and including spaced annular series of pick up fingers having laterally bent extensions for alinement with the upper ends of the guide rails in the rotation of the said pick up wheel, a pitman pivotally connected to the operating lever at its lower end and having a' longitudinal slot in its upper end receiving the outwardly projecting end of the said shaft and also having upper and lower laterally and oppositely projecting lugs at spaced points in its length, and ratchet members in the form of star wheels secured upon the projecting portion of the shaft upon relatively opposite sides of the said pitman and for engagement by the lugs of the pitman in the upward and downward movement of the latter.

2. A. combination with a stapling machine including a frame having forward and side staple feeding arms and an operating lever for the staple setting plungers, of a pair of curved downwardly inclined guide rails, the lower ends of which are secured to the upper ends of the said staple feeding arms, a hopper mounted on the frame and having side openings into which the upper ends of the said guide rails extend, adapted for the reception of a supply of staples, a shaft extended through the said hopper in a horizontal position and having an outwardly projecting'end, a pick up wheel secured on the shaft within the hopper and including spaced annular series of pick up fingers having laterally bent extensions for alinement with the upper ends of the guide rails in the rotation of said pick up wheel, a pitman pivotally connected to the operating lever at its lower endand having a longitudinal slot in its upper end receiving the outwardly projecting end of said shaft and also having upper and lower laterally and oppositely projecting lugs at spaced points in its length, and ratchet members in the form of star wheels secured upon the projecting portion of the shaft upon relatively opposite sides of the said pitman and for engagement by the lugs of the pitman in the upward and downward movement of the latter, the teeth of the said wheels being staggered with respect to one another and the pick up fingers of the spaced annular series being also stag: gered with respect to one another, for the purpose described.

3. The combination with a stapling machine including a frame 11 avingforward and side staple feeding arms and an operating lever for the staple setting plungers, of a pair of curved downwardly inclined guide rails, the lower endsof which are secured to the upper ends of the said staple feeding arms, a hopper mounted on the frame and having side openings into which the upper ends of said guide rails extend, adapted for the reception of a supply of staples, a shaft extending through the said hopper in a horizontal position and having an outwardly projecting end, a pick up wheel secured upon the shaft within the hopper-and including annular series of pick up fingers each of which tapers to an outer sharpened end and is provided with an intermediate extension having a laterally curved extremity, the last mentioned extremities of' the fingers alining with the upper ends of the said guide rails in the rotation thereof, and a ratchet mechanism for intermittently r0- tating the shaft.

4. The combination with a stapling machine including a frame having forward and side staple feeding arms and an operating lever for the staple setting plungers, of a pair of curved downwardly inclined guide rails, the lower ends of which are secured to the upper ends of the said staple feeding arms, a j

hopper mounted on the frame and having side openings into which the upper ends of the said guide rails extend, adapted for the re ception of a supply of staples, a shaft ex tending through the said hopper in a horizontal position and having an outwardly projecting end, a pick up wheel secured upon the shaft within the hopper and including annular series of pick up fingers each of said fingers tapering to an outer sharpened end and having an intermediate pointed extension curving laterally and forwardly with respect to the direction of the movement of the pick up wheel, the said lateral extensions of the series of fingers projecting in opposite directions and alining with the upper ends of the said guide rails in the rotation thereof, and a ratchet mechanism for intermittently rotating the shaft, said ratchet mechanism including a pitman having a slidable connection with the projecting portion of thesaid shaft and a pivotal connection with the operating lever, and ratchet members secured upon the projecting portion of the shaft and inter mittently engaged by the said pitman in the movements of the latter.

ELIE A. RUDASILL. 

